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* Title: A POLITICAL HISTORY FORECAST OF THE 2024 US CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS 
* Authors: Michael S. Lewis-Beck & Stephen Quinlan
* Journal of Publication: POLITICAL SCIENCE & POLITICS
* Year of Publication: 2024
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* README FILE
* Last updated: Wednesday 14 August 2024 
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*/// TABLE OF CONTENTS READ ME FILE
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*/// 1: NAVIGATION OF READ ME FILE
*/// 2: PURPOSE OF READ ME FILE
*/// 3: DATAVERSE DEPOSIT OVERVIEW
*/// 4: DESCRIPTION OF DATA AND DEPOSITED SYNTAX FILES
*/// 5: NOTE REGARDING USE OF SYNTAX FILE
*/// 6: CONTACT THE AUTHORS


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*/// 1: NAVIGATION OF READ ME FILE
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* /// = SECTION HEADER 
* >>> = SUB-SECTION HEADER


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*/// 2: PURPOSE OF READ ME FILE
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This file details information regarding the deposits of "A Political 
History Forecast of the 2024 US Congressinal Elections" paper by 
Lewis-Beck and Quinlan appearing in Political Science & Politics. 



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*/// 3: DATAVERSE DEPOSIT OVERVIEW
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The Dataverse deposit (August 2024) includes three files: 
- STATA Dataset (.dta) including data on US Congressional Elections. 
- STATA Data Analysis Syntax file (.do) including replication syntax for 
  all analysis included in the paper and accompanying appendixes.  
- ReadMe File (.txt) providing overview of the deposit and further 
  instructions where applicable. 


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*/// 4: DESCRIPTION OF DATA AND DEPOSITED SYNTAX FILES
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*>>> STATA DATASET 
     (File Name:20240814_LB_Q_US Congressional PH Forecast 1946-2022.dta)
This STATA data (wide format - observations=rows; variables=columns) include
data on US Congressional Elections from 1946-2022. Data was obtained 
from three primary sources, namely: 

  - Office of the Clerk, United States House of Representatives. 2024. 
    �Office of the Clerk - United States Federal Election Statistics: 1920 
    to Present.� https://history.house.gov/Institution/Election-Statistics/
    Election-Statistics/ (Last Accessed: June 20, 2024).

  - Ballotpedia. 2024. �Ballotpedia Encyclopedia of American Elections and 
    Politics.� https://ballotpedia.org/ (Last Accessed: June 20, 2024)

  - Brookings Institute. 


*>>> DATA ANALYSIS SYNTAX FILE 
    (File Name: 20240814_LB_Q_US Congressional PH Forecast Syntax_Analysis 
     & Appendix.do)
This file offers replication code for the regression analysis and appendixes
in the paper "A Political History Forecast of the 2024 US Congressinal 
Elections". It is a STATA .do file and should be run on the 
STATA version of the dataset but can also be read into any text file 
program such as Notepad or Sublime Text. 


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*/// 5: NOTE REGARDING USE OF SYNTAX FILE
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"ACHTUNG" = May require user to change the file path for file to be opened. 


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*/// 6: CONTACT THE AUTHORS 
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The authors can be contacted at: 
- MICHAEL S. LEWIS-BECK
  michael-lewis-beck@uiowa.edu

- STEPHEN QUINLAN 
  stephen.quinlan@gesis.org 


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